There was but one obstacle, in short, to be mentioned; but till that one was removed, it must be impossible for them to sanction the engagement.  Their tempers were mild, but their principles were steady, and while his parent so expressly forbade the connection, they could not allow themselves to encourage it.  That the general should come forward to solicit the alliance, or that he should even very heartily approve it, they were not refined enough to make any parading stipulation; but the decent appearance of consent must be yielded, and that once obtained —­ and their own hearts made them trust that it could not be very long denied —­ their willing approbation was instantly to follow.  His consent was all that they wished for.  They were no more inclined than entitled to demand his money.  Of a very considerable fortune, his son was, by marriage settlements, eventually secure; his present income was an income of independence and comfort, and under every pecuniary view, it was a match beyond the claims of their daughter.

The young people could not be surprised at a decision like this.  They felt and they deplored —­ but they could not resent it; and they parted, endeavouring to hope that such a change in the general, as each believed almost impossible, might speedily take place, to unite them again in the fullness of privileged affection.  Henry returned to what was now his only home, to watch over his young plantations, and extend his improvements for her sake, to whose share in them he looked anxiously forward; and Catherine remained at Fullerton to cry.  Whether the torments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire.  Mr. and Mrs. Morland never did —­ they had been too kind to exact any promise; and whenever Catherine received a letter, as, at that time, happened pretty often, they always looked another way.

The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity.  The means by which their early marriage was effected can be the only doubt:  what probable circumstance could work upon a temper like the general’s?  The circumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course of the summer —­ an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of good humour, from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him “to be a fool if he liked it!”